Trouble Switching From Wet Food To Dry Food

[IggiePiggie]

Hi everyone,

I feel like a bit of a pain, like I have been posting new topics every 5 minutes.

However I have been feeding my pup on canned food for the past year.

However I so want to switch him over to dry because I feel that will be better for him.

But I've had heaps of trouble doing this.

When I change to dry food, at night he refuses to eat it all but goes back to up until it is quite late at night.

And it also causes him to drink alot more water.

Which means I am up at all hours of the night to let him outside.

This got too hard for me at a certain point as I was working full time and I had to go back to wet.

Is there anyway I can avoid this, or do I just have to stick it out.

Sorry if this seems like a dumb question.

[IggiePiggie]

Reading back through my post it seems the logical thing to do would be to make it unavailable to him after a certain time frame.

Then let him digest it before bed.

[Sandra777]

You might need to mix his canned food with the new dry food for a while to get him used to the idea, but if you've done that already then go for the tough love method.

Assuming you feed him twice a day - just don't feed him at all one night. Simply do not offer him any food (this is assuming the dog is healthy and there is no medical reason not to feed him). Next morning, give him a normal portion and if he doesn't finish it all in ten minutes, pick it up and put it away. That evening, give him a normal portion, give him ten minutes then take it away. He will soon get the message.

[poodlefan]

Feed him in the morning?

[Kelpie_Pup]

You might need to mix his canned food with the new dry food for a while to get him used to the idea, but if you've done that already then go for the tough love method.

Assuming you feed him twice a day - just don't feed him at all one night. Simply do not offer him any food (this is assuming the dog is healthy and there is no medical reason not to feed him). Next morning, give him a normal portion and if he doesn't finish it all in ten minutes, pick it up and put it away. That evening, give him a normal portion, give him ten minutes then take it away. He will soon get the message.

Maybe try softening the food with water? When we first swapped with our dog, we soaked the food in water first for about 10 mins to soften it, gradually decreasing the amount over about a week...

If that doesn't work, then yep try tough love.. He'll soon learn to eat quickly when its given to him

[Sagittarian]

Tough love. However, do make sure the dry food is palatable. They are not all the same and it may be worth getting some samples of different brands to try out.

Sags

[IggiePiggie]

Thanks. Will give it a try.

But you all generally agree that dry food is better for the dog?

[Kelpie_Pup]

A good quality dry food is *generally speaking* better for your dog.. most wet foods have a high water content..which your dog can get for free from its water bowl

[IggiePiggie]

A good quality dry food is *generally speaking* better for your dog.. most wet foods have a high water content..which your dog can get for free from its water bowl

So dry food would generally be better value for money as well...

[Kelpie_Pup]

Absolutely.

Also, the better quality the food, the less they waste.. Halle was on pedigree puppy food when we first got her She seriously used to just poop everything she ate. Now she is on a much better quality dry food and poops much less of what she eats...very good value for money

[persephone]

So dry food would generally be better value for money as well...

yes- if it is a good qualityone and not one where any meat is way down the list of ingredients

There are dry foods and dry foods!!

They are all different, and what suits one person's budget and dog may not be the one for another household .

[Stitch]

I feed my pups the dry food mixed with boiled chicken and chicken juices (warmed) in the mornings. They absolutely love it that way but won't eat it dry.

I feed BARF of an evening and withhold the water from about 5pm so I limit the volume of overnight mistakes.

[poodle proud]

Hi IggiePiggie,

I recently did the switch myself from wet food to dry food. The post was "do fussy dogs eat eagle pack".

If I mixed the wet food in they ate around it so I just had to do tough love. They didnt eat for 2 days but eventually cottoned on to the fact that this was it. I didnt give treats for about a week until I knew they would eat the dry food.

I also got a tip from someone at work to heat their dry food in the microwave briefly as it brings forth the smell of the ingredients and it works much better.

I have a very fussy mini poodle and I have to put his food down and then completely ignore him before he will even look at the food. He would choose attention over food any day of the week. And I now give treats after the evening meal and dont do it every day so they dont refuse the dry food and wait on treats.

Hope it goes well! My two are doing better on the dry food. Better poos, better teeth, and much more infrequent bursts of 'fragrance' if you catch my drift

[Staycalm]

Can I also add that my two love love love an addition of canned sardines and oil onto the dry. The bowls are licked clean and sparkly. I just use Aldi brand.

Another addition they like is plain natural yoghurt. Either of these added might spark their interest in the dry kibble.

Good luck! Mine aren't fussy so I'm lucky.

[Jen21]

Why not do a mix of wet and dry? As long as they are both good quality, why shouldn't your dog get something he'd prefer.

[Nekhbet]

why shouldn't your dog get something he'd prefer

most kids prefer lollies and icecream to their dinner so we give them what they want?

you are responsible for your dog, and it eats what is good for it. Canned food for the average dog - nope. Dogs need meaty bones if they can stomach them and should be chewing. I can imagine what the teeth look like on a wet food only diet for 12 months. Canned food is lazy food, the guts barely have to do any work for it and really holds minimal benefits other then your dog likes it. Dry food and meaty bones I find keep the dog in good condition, good teeth and not too much poo.

when you swap your dog over dont be suprised if what comes out the back end stinks for a while. Your dogs guts will have to get used to doing some work and not being on a highly processed, pretty much predigested liquid diet. Introduce it slowly and give your dog a small spoon of yoghurt every day to help its digestive system cope. Same if you give edible bones - small things like a bashed chicken neck (if it doesnt get any at all at the moment) and give it a couple of days in between to make sure the dog does not become constipated. If it does a little spoon of castor oil down the throat works try again every few days to let the gut get used to eating what a dog is meant to.

This is my bitch, she's 5 1/2 years and been on a kibble/raw meaty bone diet since I got her at 10 weeks

[Jen21]

^ Don't agree with you - the analogy with lollies is a bit extreme....

Premium wet food has the same makeup as Premium dried with just more water, which for some dogs is a lot easier to eat and digest.

Chicken Bones made my pup sick, and the Vet put him back on good quality canned, and he's so much more healthier and happy now.

[yellowgirl]

Nekhbet, that is exactly how a 5 year old dog's teeth should look! There is so much rubbish on the shelves these days that people seem to think that tummy troubles, gas, dry skin, bad breath, gum infections and plaque covered teeth are normal for dogs!

Jen21, I agree with you. Why shouldn't dogs have yummy food? I want my dogs to be happy and healthy and know that meal times are something to look forward to. I don't mind putting in the effort to make healthy and tasty food for them, and oh boy, they sure do appreciate it!

IggiePiggie, forget about the tv commercials and pet food marketing. Check the label of the bag. Meat should be the first ingredient, with a minimum of fillers and cereals. And no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives. Ethoxyquin and BHA are preservatives. Some companies use the word 'antioxidants' but it's usually another word for preservatives.

Eagle Pack was mentioned before, that is one of the better dry food companies (IMO).

A little trick that I used with my mini poodle was to use the large dog size dry, that way he had to actually chew it rather than just swallowing it. Really helps the teeth. He couldn't tolerate bones, so I also gave him Greenies. His teeth were gorgeous. He also had a homemade mince and veg mix for meals, not just boring old dry food .

I now have two Chinese Cresteds. My rescue girl, Madeline, had really bad plaque and tarter. Using the method mentioned above, they have improved remarkably. My new boy, 9 year old Sarge, will probably have to have a proper vet dental done, I don't think Greenies are any match for his terrible choppers.

I'm mentioning the teeth a bit because if they have plaque and tarter, they are not eating properly. Dogs' teeth should look like the teeth of Nekbet's dog. And attached to those teeth should be a happy, healthy dog

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

I don't agree with a totally dry biscuit diet, I wouldn't want to eat dried biscuits all day every day.

I had one VERY miserable dog for several years, forced onto a special Hills Science Diet with a life=threatening illness. Every day was a major drama as he hated the only food he could eat!

I read on the web information posted by another dog owner coping with IBD and decided to follow her successful example of adding sweet potato from time to time. IBD is all about meat proteins so very occasionally, I'd add a bit of sardine or tuna and stir it round. It was not an every day treat but it made his life more bearable.

No matter what, I will never feed just dried food to any dog 100% of the time.

[tamnchad]

No matter what, I will never feed just dried food to any dog 100% of the time

Thanks for that.. I have no realised by reading your comment that maybe I am trying to do the wrong thing by my babies....

Dry food morning and night must be so damn boring!!